"Bro... your shoes..."
Steph squinted down at Lin Yi's beat-up sneakers, pointing with a smirk in the Wildcats practice gym.
Lin glanced at them, then leaned back against the wall, soaking up the afternoon sunlight.
"Yeah... they're looking a bit thirsty now," he said, stretching his legs out.
Steph laughed. Lin's shoes were practically falling apart.
Lin rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed.
"I guess I've been going hard lately..."
"Forget that," Steph said, waving it off. "With the limited amount of you left school, you basically know nowhere, and this town doesn't have any real gear shops. Co on, I'll take you out and get you sorted."
Lin nodded. He didn't know the area, and new shoes sounded great.
Steph called up Ayesha. "We're grabbing sneakers. I need your help—your fashion sense is better than mine."
"Oh, Ayesha, I'm going one-on-one with Lin! Tell your girls to go see that movie without you."
"Ayesha, I can't co over. I gotta train and beat Lin in 2K or I'll never hear the end of it."
"Ayesha, I'm working on my threes with Lin... what? Our anniversary? Uh, I an… love you, babe!"
"Ayesha, you don't get it. The dia says Lin and I are like soul bros! We're Shooting Stars"
"Ayesha..."
At this point, Ayesha was the third wheel. Lin and Steph just clicked. Always hooping, always talking, always ssing around.
Heh. n, she thought.
....
An hour later, they rolled up to a Nike store. It was before 2013—Steph was still Nike head now, thanks to his godfather Greg Brink, a longti Nike employee. Steph even dropped 54 at MSG wearing Nike's Zoom Hyperfuse.
Crazy how things changed later when Nike overlooked him and Under Armour scooped him up.
Anyway.
"Yo Lin, don't you like Kobe?" Steph asked, pointing at the neatly stacked Kobe line. "They've got the full set right here."
Ayesha sighed. Seriously? I ca all this way to watch you two argue about sneakers like it's a sacred ritual.
"Steph," she cut in, "he's a big man. Shouldn't he be looking at sothing with more support?"
Lin made a face.
"Big man? Please. I'm not so stiff post-up dude. Those chunky shoes look like astronaut boots. I want sothing sleek."
Steph chuckled and picked up a pair of Nike Zoom Kobe 3.
"These are sick."
Lin took them and admired the design.
"Cool."
And right then...
[DING]
System Notification: New Task Unlocked – 'Shoe Quest'
Please choose difficulty:
Easy
Normal
Hard
Lin blinked. Wait... what? A shoe purchase triggered a quest?
He hovered over "Easy" and hit confirm.
You selected: Easy
System response: Difficulty set to... DEATH MODE
"HUH?"
The system responded with cold words:
"This is your fate."
Mission: Kobe Quest – Death Difficulty
Opponent: Oklahoma Sooners
Objectives:
Break Taylor and Blake Griffin once each
Dunk on one of them
Hit a 3-pointer in front of them
Reward:
Special Edition Nike Zoom Kobe III (System version)
Permanent stat boost: 1 Vertical Jump
That was huge. The system never gave out physical stat boosts—especially for an Asian athlete like Lin, who knew bounce didn't co easy.
But... dunk on Blake Griffin?
This wasn't a video ga. This was real life.
If he failed?
Penalty: Kiss the reward goodbye.
anwhile, completely unaware that Lin was spiraling, Steph grinned.
"Knew you'd pick the Kobes. Good choice."
He turned to Ayesha, smug.
"Told you he'd pick the ones I liked."
Ayesha just shrugged.
....
Later that night, back at Davidson…
Lin ca through the door to Room 4001 and spotted Steph on the couch, deep in a 2K ga.
"Yo, didn't you go out with Ayesha today?"
Steph sighed, looking emotionally defeated.
"Don't ask. She said her period's acting weird. I swear, I thought she was off-cycle."
Lin shrugged.
"Well, she can't control her cycle, man. Co on—let school you in 2K."
Steph tossed him a controller.
"Yeah, yeah... let's go."
PS:PLEASE DO LEAVE SO STONES AND A REVIEW. IT WILL BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
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